Medics shortage stymies surgeries at hospitals

Patients requiring surgical procedures have to wait for months

RAWALPINDI:

The three government hospitals in the garrison city — the Benazir General Hospital, the Holy Family Hospital and the District Headquarters Hospital — are facing a shortage of doctors, nurses and beds, causing inordinate delays in carrying out operations.

Owing to the patient load, a shortage of doctors and paramedical staff, surgeries have to be put on hold for up to eight months after the diagnosis of diseases.

A large number of patients from the Rawalpindi division, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa visit these three hospitals which are facing straining under the high patient load.

The city's three hospitals have been facing a heavy patient load as no new hospital could be built in Rawalpindi in the last couple of years nor the infrastructure of the existing hospitals could be upgraded.

Sources confirmed that around 700 surgeries have been put on hold by the three hospitals for up to eight months after the diagnosis of diseases. Patients seeking treatment for neurosurgery, orthopaedic, general and ENT at the three hospitals receive a date for surgeries for up to eight months or even longer.

For patients, receiving a date within a reasonable timeframe for their operations at the hospitals is becoming increasingly difficult amidst the shortage of staff and heavy workload of patients. According to sources, even scheduled surgeries were sometimes further delayed due to a lack of resources.

People from low-income groups visit these hospitals owing to the high cost of treatment in private hospitals.

Muhammad Rafiq, a citizen, said that his brother was supposed to undergo surgery but the three hospitals gave him the date with a six months delay. As a result, he said, he had to borrow money to pay for the expenditures incurred for the treatment of his brother in a private hospital.

“I would have evaded the costs of Rs1.5 million if the operation had been performed in one of the three hospitals.”

Aziz Ahmed said that his cousin had fractured his leg in an accident but the hospital put him on wait for four months for the surgery.

Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor of the three hospitals Prof Mohammad Umar said that the hospitals carry more operations than their capacity.

He said that besides the lack of infrastructure, the hospitals face a shortage of doctors, supporting staff and technical staff.

He said that the three hospitals also face a severe shortage of anaesthesiologists, leading to the delay in carrying out operations.

“Although we are aware of the patient issues, it is also undeniable that hospitals are overworked.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2022.